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Practice signing these basic expressions in American Sign Language (ASL) to meet and greet people, join in on conversations, answer questions, and be polite and courteous.

American Sign Language (ASL), like any other language, allows you to communicate your feelings. You can sign about how that movie made you sad or how seeing your Deaf friend made you happy: Angry: Make the open-5 hand shape, palm toward your face, and pull your hand away from your face, scrunching up your fingers.

To make plans (or even just discuss about what you did over the weekend) with Deaf friends, you need to know how to sign time of day, as well as days or weeks. Sign about time with these American Sign Language (ASL) terms. Check out this table for the days of the week. Use the first letter in the manual alphabet to sign the weekdays and Saturday, but use T-H for Thursday.

Using pronouns in American Sign Language (ASL) is the same as in English; you need to refer to a noun before you use a pronoun. You may also use possessives during your Sign conversation. Show possession by indicating whom you are talking about, what is being possessed, and then an open palm facing the person.

How to sign cardinal (counting) and ordinal (ordering) numbers will get you through everyday situations. When you want to specify that there’s more than one item — plural — you sign the item first, followed by the quantity. Unlike English, you don’t have to change the item to a plural by adding “s.” You need to show what the item is before you can tell someone how many.

After you go shopping, you have to deal with the not-so-fun part — paying for all your new items. The signs in this table cover the variety of ways to pay for those purchases and signs for other money-related words. These sentences can get you some experience signing about money: English: I’ll pay with my credit card.

Adding color to the canvas only brightens your repertoire of American Sign Language (ASL). This table gives you a start with the signs for basic colors. Here are some sentences that let you practice your newfound coloring skills: English: Her dress is blue and white. Sign: HER DRESS — BLUE WHITE English: His tie is green.

If you want to share information about your family by using American Sign Language (ASL), you need to know a few signs. Describing your family is one way to tell someone about yourself. Using the common signs in this table can make your eccentric family seem almost normal. Signs for some other members of your family, such as grandparents and in-laws, are a bit trickier: Grand-relatives: To talk about your grandparents or your grandchildren, fingerspell G-R-A-N-D, and then sign the person's role.

Pets are a large part of many people's lives, and American Sign Language (ASL) gives you the means to discuss your favorite non-human friend with signing. You can tell your Deaf friend all about that new dog you got: Dog: Tap your leg with an open hand and, after the tap, lift your hand and snap one time. Rather intuitive, wouldn’t you say?